Leahy has high hopes for facility; 170,000 guests are lined up for 2014

Nearly 400,000 people are expected to come to 204 events already booked at the new Cleveland Convention Center over the next six years, with 170,000 of the guests set for 2014. Those convention-goers, meeting attendees and even wedding guests are projected to book at least 205,000 hotel room nights in area hotels.

Those are the latest booking numbers from SMG, the Philadelphia-area company that in November took over operation of the convention center and the adjacent Global Center for Health Innovation.

While the Global Center gives Mark Leahy, general manager of both facilities, an edge when he tries to attract medical and health care meetings to the convention center, his firm's marketing efforts have been wide-ranging. Bookings for 2014 include Safeguard Properties' 2014 Vendor Conference at the end of June, followed in July by the National Model Railroad Association and then the National Association of Biology Teachers in November.

In February 2015, the Ohio Music Educators Associations makes the first of three planned trips to Cleveland.

It will bring 3,000 music teachers back in 2017 and 2019. Later in 2015, in November, the Association of Iron and Steel Technology will bring 6,000 people to the city.

The iron and steel group used to come to Cleveland regularly, but it moved to places such as Atlanta, Indianapolis and St. Louis a decade ago, when the old convention center went into decline.

So far, Mr. Leahy is pleased with the building he's working to fill.

“It's a great convention space,” he said in an interview in his office in the Global Center. “I haven't peeked in all the closets yet, but it's extremely well-designed from an operational standpoint (and) from a marketing standpoint.”

Mr. Leahy said the prime spaces are the 230,000-square-foot exhibit hall, which is divisible into three smaller halls; the 32,000-square-foot grand ballroom with a wall of glass that looks out on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and FirstEnergy Stadium; and the11,000-square-foot junior ballroom of the Global Center.

Savvy operator

SMG manages 69 convention centers nationwide, including centers in Columbus and Toledo. The firm brings with it a national network of convention center marketers who can augment Mr. Leahy's staff of 25 in selling the Cleveland complex.

Mr. Leahy said the various SMG centers compete against each other for business.

“We'll have marketing battles with Columbus,” he predicted.

But when they aren't competing, the centers share information. The company has an incentive program that rewards sales people for helping funnel business to other SMG locations.

Mr. Leahy said he can ask another SMG convention center manager about what a particular association focused on when it held a convention and what the company's experience was with that group. He might ask for details about labor and construction costs for bringing in a show. That information can help Mr. Leahy sharpen his bid for a group's business.

“It's a wealth of information and (gives you) a better way to serve the client,” he said.

The clout of SMG is an advantage in pursuing convention business, said Michael Burns, senior vice president for convention sales and services at Positively Cleveland, the region's convention and visitors' bureau. Its staff collaborates with the convention center staff to attract business to Cleveland.

“SMG has a lot of experience,” Mr. Burns said. “They're a great operator, and they understand the business. It gives a lot of credibility to what we're doing.”

Mr. Burns added that the breadth of SMG's experience and its knowledge base “helps make sure our pricing is competitive.”

Hot commodities

Mr. Leahy has been in convention center management for 25 years and has specialized in opening convention centers. He has done it in his hometown of Boston, as well as in Savannah, Ga., and, most recently, Pittsburgh.

A marketing advantage Mr. Leahy sees for Cleveland is the Global Center, which was included in the complex specifically to serve as a magnet for physicians and other health care professionals.

“The whole world wants medical meetings because of their (continuing) education requirements,” he said. “Physicians, in particular, have more discretionary income. They bring their spouses more often and stay a little longer.”

The Global Center already has tenants that serve the health care industry, and later it will have more consumer-oriented spaces, such as the “Home of the Future,” that will give people a peek into what it might take to stay at home as health problems arise.

Mr. Leahy said he believes the region's growing biomedical sector will help attract meetings and conventions. And he expects to draw statewide professional associations that have bypassed Cleveland for the last decade or more.

Ironing out wrinkles

Roger Hall, executive director of the Ohio Music Educators Association, said his group will hold its annual convention in Columbus next month but will come to Cleveland in 2015, 2017 and 2019 after a decade's absence.

“We have a real strong membership base in Cuyahoga County and that's why we've wanted to come back,” Mr. Hall said. “Our Cuyahoga County people have said, "When?' because they've got to drive to Columbus or Cincinnati all the time.”

The music educators' convention will bring 3,000 teachers to town for three days as well as 10,000 students and their parents coming in for performances. Mr. Hall has booked a block of 2,800 hotel room nights for the event.

Mr. Hall checked out the building four times in October and was impressed.

“The center is beautiful. It's well done, they've got a great product,” he said. “But our biggest concern is parking. They still have some wrinkles to work out.”

Parking is a known issue that has dogged the convention center since its inception. Short term, management has used valet parking, and in July, the county said it would rent 300 spaces in the 1,000-space Huntington Garage to the convention center.

The center is garnering notice beyond Ohio among meeting planners. Joe Clote, publisher of Missouri Meetings and Events magazine, said he hears the building is attracting medical meeting planners' interest.

“The uniqueness of that building is still new enough and not very well duplicated at all,” Mr. Clote said. “A handful of other properties around the country have tried to mimic it, but I haven't seen anything doing quite what they are doing. That building is still unique.”

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